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Don't know about the systems you've mentioned, but I personally prefer bright uplighters (eg. spotlights shining up towards the ceiling, and the reflected light lights the hall) as these will not cause a player to lose sight of the shuttle in the glare of downward spotlights.

Played in a number of halls where I have lost sight of the shuttle when it crosses the path of a downward spotlight and ended up missing or mishitting - frustrating to say the least!!!

I'm not at all familiar with the lighting systems that you've mentioned but will attempt to provide some useful feedback just the same.

Too often inadequate consideration is given to the quality of lighting, wall color and ceiling backgrounds in gyms where badminton is played. Hot spots or glare should be avoided as much as possible since badminton players must spend a great deal of time looking towards the ceiling and walls while trying to track a white shuttle which is often traveling at speeds that push the limits of our visual acuity & tracking skills.

A lighting system where the light is either primarily reflected or adequately diffused can minimize the occurrence of glare or hot spots if done properly. Point light sources should be avoided to cut down on the occurrence of glare. Lighting should be as uniform as possible with minimal shadows. Lights should have proper ballasts to ensure that they are completely flicker-free.

Adequate illuminance, without harsh over-illumination, is also very important. Something on the order of 500-1000 lux might be suitable. I'm not all that certain about these numbers, but something in this ballpark would probably suffice.

Other lighting qualities to consider are color temperature, contrast ratio and CRI (color rendering index). The lighting should be a balanced spectrum "white" light with a color temp in the neighborhood of 5000K-6000K. Yellowish or "warm" lighting (low color temp) should be avoided for badminton. Should also avoid lighting with a red/pink or orange cast. Excessively high color temps, lights with too much blue, while great for precious gems, are probably not suitable for badminton either.

High CRI, 85-100, is probably also a good idea to improve the ability to adequately see & successfully track a fast moving shuttle. Lighting, along with wall & ceiling color, should be selected to maximize the contrast of a moving white shuttle with respect to its background.

High Scotopic to Photopic ratios (S/P) may be another parameter to consider for badminton. I'm not really familiar with this particular parameter. However, if color temp, CRI and other criteria are met, then perhaps the S/P ratio will be high enough for badminton lighting concerns.
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at my club the lights are pretty bright, but hang parallel to (and outside) the court...never bothered me since they hang outside the courts...
what I hate most is when the lighting stops 3/4 of the court (hitting smashes in the 'dark' )

Further explanations on topic

Yes, llpjlau, I should have clarified further. Fluorescent linear lights are the type of lights used on court where the light sources are arranged parallel to the lengthwise side of the court. They are long and arranged consecutively to cover the whole length of the court. As Jerby pointed out, this works well if positioned properly

Point light system, on the other hand, are like this big dome, circular lights that point downwards, which are located on top of the ceiling, and normally positioned in between adjacent courts

I should have included uplights as an option for lighting the courts, as gs loh have pointed out, as this is indeed another choice; IMO, this is the best type of lighting for badminton courts, as glare is completely eliminated. As indirect uplighting needs more light to generate illumination, several courts adjacent to each other would need tremendous amounts of light to be effective to achieve the illumination required, which is at a minimum of 500 lux. In this manner, this lighting style becomes a disadvantage in terms of maintenance and running costs

All the factors that SystemicAnomaly have pointed out - (illumination, CRI, Color temperature) are the characteristics carried by the different lamp source types, along with their applied use. The SP ratios, by the way, are determined by the components of the light source (ballast, ignitor, capacitor) in relation to movement

And yes, contrast ratio is important too. If horizontal fluorescent lighting at about 5,100-5,300K on a nice green/light blue/gray background, that will be very nice.

Originally Posted by SystemicAnomaly

Other lighting qualities to consider are color temperature, contrast ratio and CRI (color rendering index). The lighting should be a balanced spectrum "white" light with a color temp in the neighborhood of 5000K-6000K. Yellowish or "warm" lighting (low color temp) should be avoided for badminton. Should also avoid lighting with a red/pink or orange cast. Excessively high color temps, lights with too much blue, while great for precious gems, are probably not suitable for badminton either.

And yes, contrast ratio is important too. If horizontal fluorescent lighting at about 5,100-5,300K on a nice green/light blue/gray background, that will be very nice.

You may be correct about the hint of blue for 6000K lighting. Not sure if I've ever experienced 6000K, but I have noticed a distinct bluish-ness for 6500K. For home, office & lab, I've used 5000K and 5500K fluorescent lighting and have been pleased with both.

The lighting that I prefer for tennis courts and badminton gyms appear to be close to the 5000-5500K range.

Originally Posted by jerby

at my club the lights are pretty bright, but hang parallel to (and outside) the court...never bothered me since they hang outside the courts...

One of the gyms that I frequent uses fluorescents (linear) lights parallel to the length of the courts. Even tho' the light sources are diffused & placed outside of the court boundaries, they still present a glare problem for high shuttles hit down the line (close to the alleys).

I had a particularly difficult time adjusting to the lighting of that particular gym -- the very first time I played at this gym, I must have framed the shuttle 20 times consecutively before I was able to finally hit a shuttle cleanly. The first half dozen times or so that I returned to this required an adjustment period of 5 minutes or so.

Not sure what, in particular, distorted my perception of the shuttle's position & trajectory. The color temp of the fluorescent lights are quite a bit less than 5000K. While this may very well have been a factor, I'm not sure at all that this was the primary cause for my inability to track the shuttle. Perhaps unusual or pronounced shadows, due to inadequate light coverage of the court. could be another factor. The dark blue background took a while to become accustomed to as well.

And yes, contrast ratio is important too. If horizontal fluorescent lighting at about 5,100-5,300K on a nice green/light blue/gray background, that will be very nice.

[quote=SystemicAnomaly;684263]You may be correct about the hint of blue for 6000K lighting. Not sure if I've ever experienced 6000K, but I have noticed a distinct bluish-ness for 6500K. For home, office & lab, I've used 5000K and 5500K fluorescent lighting and have been pleased with both.

The lighting that I prefer for tennis courts and badminton gyms appear to be close to the 5000-5500K range.

For fluorescents, the widely available commercial types are rated at 6000k, at 80 CRI and you may also encounter some 5400k. Anything in between will be rare. The bluish appearance may not be too visible when the CRI is high (80+++)

I find it surprising that you prefer high color temp (daylight color). Textbook design color temperature recommendations from people from cooler countries are typically at 4000-5000k (cool white color) Lighting Design for temperate countries on the other hand, are the ones that adhere more to 5400k and above. This is also the case for offices and labs. (And I thought we tropical people are the only ones who adhere to high temp )

One of the gyms that I frequent uses fluorescents (linear) lights parallel to the length of the courts. Even tho' the light sources are diffused & placed outside of the court boundaries, they still present a glare problem for high shuttles hit down the line (close to the alleys).

This may not be a case of position of light or color temperature. It may be due to improper aiming of the light, and too much contrast ratio between the background color and the lighting level

For fluorescents, the widely available commercial types are rated at 6000k, at 80 CRI and you may also encounter some 5400k. Anything in between will be rare. The bluish appearance may not be too visible when the CRI is high (80+++)...

It is possible that the 5500k lamps that that I recalled were actually compact fluorescents rather than linear fluorescents. The 5000k lights, on the other hand, are 4-foot linear tubes from Canada. I believe that these tubes are GE (Chroma 50) with a CRI of 90.

I've also used Excella 4-foot fluorescent tubes (made in the USA). These are rated at 5765k with a CRI of 91+. Don't believe that these had a bluish tinge at all. As you suggested, this is undoubtedly due to its very high CRI -- which I believe is an indication that its spectral output is fairly well balanced (not unlike natural outdoor light).

Originally Posted by maryanne

...I find it surprising that you prefer high color temp (daylight color). Textbook design color temperature recommendations from people from cooler countries are typically at 4000-5000k (cool white color) Lighting Design for temperate countries on the other hand, are the ones that adhere more to 5400k and above. This is also the case for offices and labs. (And I thought we tropical people are the only ones who adhere to high temp )...

This is a fascinating notion. Are the color temp preferences you mention due to genetics or due primarily to environmental influences? Is the preference related to the average color temp for natural outdoor light for a given region?

I know that the color temp of natural outdoor light is a function of time of day. Is is also a function of season and latitude? Does the average color temp of daylight at a latitude of 20 degrees differ significantly from the average color temp at a latitude of 40 degrees?

Not sure if it is a factor, but my parents and grandparents are all from the Hawaiian Islands. I also live there from the ages of 6 thru 10. (The latitude of these islands is not much different than your PI). However, most of my life had been spent between the latitudes of 35 degrees N and 37 degrees N.

Some years back I had a French Canadian roommate who spent his early life closer to the 50th parallel (degrees latitude). His preference was for incandescent lights that reeked of a strong yellow color. I had a very difficult time trying to read or relax in this type of lighting. That type of lighting (or even strong cool white lights) would easily fatigue my eyes & even make me stressed or irritable. On the other hand, he could not stand my balanced spectrum (high color temp) fluorescent -- he was not a huge fan of sunlight either.

About 15 yrs ago, I had my optometrist test me for color sensitivity. He determined that I was hypersensitive to the orange-yellow part of the light spectrum. This would explain my aversion to warm (yellow) lighting and my preference for balanced spectrum (high color temp with a high CRI).

Psychological Effects of Color Temperature

Originally Posted by SystemicAnomaly

This is a fascinating notion. Are the color temp preferences you mention due to genetics or due primarily to environmental influences? Is the preference related to the average color temp for natural outdoor light for a given region?

It is due to environmental influences. People from countries/places who experience more winter would normally favor warm white color (1000k-3000k). In applications where daylight is more functional (like in badminton courts), a cool white color (3000k-4000k), is utilized as a compromise

People from countries/places who have a lot of exposure to sunlight and tend to have longer summer season, on the other hand, are more partial to daylight (4000k & above)

Aside from researches, this is also supported by sales figures of the major lighting companies worldwide. The nearer a country is in the equator belt, the more daylight types are sold. The nearer a country is towards the north pole, the more warm white types are sold

As for your eye sensitivity towards the spectrum of red-orange-yellow, this can be assisted if the illumination is always high and even, even if you have a warm white ambiance. Dim lights/mood lighting though with warm white color temperature, will definitely not suit you